Sunday, January 23, 2011

Stuck on the Valentine's Day theme, I got this idea from "Family Fun". Ave and I were looking through the magazine and she squealed "Oh! That's Bento!"

Heart shaped hot dog, with a piece of fettuccini with cheddar accents for the arrow. I used a small heart shaped cutter to cut up the middle of the hot dog that I had to cut out to make the big heart. There is yellow mustard in the cup for dipping.

15 comments:

So glad to have found your blog! I have the same little pink lunchbox that you have for my two girls. I would love to find out where you bought your bento supplies, especially the little letter cut-outs. Thanks!

I got the letter cut outs at JoAnn Fabrics. I have also seen them at Michael's. They are made by Wilton. I have purchased many of the bento supplies online. My favorite site is www.allthingsforsale.com.

Heidy, I have also gotten all the silcone cups that I have from either JoAnn's or Michael's (depending on who has a coupon!). Also, Hobby Lobby is a great place to find season accents (picks, cookie cutters and sometimes even silicone cups).

I just found your blog. I think these lunches are so cute! I am inspired to make my daughter her own lunches now when she starts school. You are very creative :-) How do you keep stuff like yogurt from getting too warm before lunch time though?

Heidy - Don't they have some fun stuff?! There are some leaf picks I really want. I'd love to see what you come up with :)

Loida, both my girls' classes eat SUPER early. They start school at 9 and one class eats at 11:15 and the other at 11:45. So, the yogurt is fine for that amount of time. (I pack their bento boxes in an insulted lunch bag with an ice pack.) In addition to their lunch, I also have to send a healthy snack that they eat each afternoon. That is WAY to long for yogurt to sit. I tried freezing it, thinking it would thaw, like a go-gurt, but it didn't work. It separated and looked really nasty. I don't do it often but now if I want to send yogurt for their snack, I take a Go-Gurt and squeeze it into a cup with a lid and then freeze it. I think it's specially formulated to freeze/thaw. Hope that makes sense!

I'm honestly not sure if the ice pack would last. It's not cold by the time they get home from school though and I think they usually eat their afternoon snack about an hour before school lets out. Not worth the risk! ;)

Just one more question. The hot dog. Do you cook it, warm it up, whatever (lol)before you pack it up? btw, I only pack a lunch for my daughter twice a week for her daycare. They like to go out for walks sometimes and since its winter they like to have fires. I'm guessing they turn on some grill somewhere and they have a tent somewhere with a little stove inside to keep them warm. Point is, they grill hot dogs for the kids so I sometimes pack up a couple cold hot dogs for her and they cook them for her. :) Now, last night I was so inspired by your blog that when I made her a strawberry jelly sandwich (that she requested) I actually cut it out into a heart and added a smiley face to it with some frosting in a tube that I had around and a couple sprinkles for the eyes. lol My husband thought I was crazy and he actually said "you have too much time on your hands" but I had fun and my daughter loved it this morning when i showed it to her! Another question though, what do you do with the scraps of bread? Sorry i'm so full of questions! This method of packing up lunches is completely new to me. But it looks so cute and fun!

Loida, thanks for the message! No apologies for your questions! I'm no expert but I'm happy to share what I know/do. As for the hot dog, I did heat it up before I packed it. But, it was chilled when she ate it (from being in the lunch bag) so I don't know if it was necessary to heat it or not. just made me feel better! That's cool that they will grill your daughter's at her school. Believe me, I have heard the "you have too much time on your hands" comment too. It's not the amount of time we have, it's how we choose to use it, right? I think packing lunches this way is fun plus the girls LOVE it and it's great for the environment (not little baggies, etc.) Finally, I honestly try to have very few scraps. When possible I'll cut 2 shapes out of one sandwich and include both in their lunch. I try to just have the crusts as scraps, which they don't like anyway. But, when I do have scraps I either eat them, offer them to the girls (if they are around) or toss them. Hope that helps!

Helps a lot! :) I think I would heat up the hot dogs too. Now I'm going to be on the lookout for small cookie cutters! The scraps could be toasted and made into croutons for a salad or perhaps put them in a food processor to make into bread crumbs for meatloaf or meatballs :) My daughter ate her entire lunch today btw because of how *cute* it was. Made me happy to see her happy. I look forward to making her more cute lunches and look forward to reading your blog. :) thanks for the inspiration and thanks for answering all my questions.

Connect To Bento-logy:

Other Fun Stuff:

About Me

I have been married for 15 years (Wow, time flies when you're having fun!) and my wonderful husband and I have been blessed with two amazing children. I love being a wife and a mother and am so blessed for the life God has given me.